


All it takes is a Helping Hand

by MyQueenMakotoChan



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series, persona - Fandom
Genre: A little bit of Drama, F/M, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26513614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyQueenMakotoChan/pseuds/MyQueenMakotoChan
Summary: A brief story about a Student Council President who takes an interest in a transfer student after a chance meeting.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira & Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 48





	All it takes is a Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time coming back to writing Fanfiction after about 3 years of writing anything seriously, so I hope you like it!
> 
> I may add a sequel to this later down the line, and I am already working on another piece with another Makoto ship.

The bell rang to signal lunch, and a quiet murmur grew to a low roar in the halls of Shujin Academy. Students took a needed break from sitting at their desks and rushed to get their food so they could enjoy their brief studying respite for as long as possible. Unfortunately, one student was not so lucky, and was carrying a stack of papers from the Faculty Office to the Student Council room. Someone else was supposed to be handling this today, but were unfortunately out sick, so the responsibility fell to Makoto Niijima, Student Council President of the school. As she walked out of the Faculty Office and made her way to the stairs, a passing teacher suddenly spoke up.

"Niijima-san! Are you free for a few minutes after school? I have something I'd like to briefly discuss with you."

Due to a later than usual night of studying, Makoto had been spaced out just a moment prior, and had to quickly process this request.

"Y-Yes, Inui-Sensei, just come by the Student Council room, I'll be there."

The teacher nodded and gave her a smile, "Thank you! That's quite a stack of papers you have there, do you need some help with that?"

"No, but thank you for the kind offer, I should be fine," she said with a shake of her head.

After a brief wave, the teacher continued on his way, and Makoto was once again left alone in the river of students. She let out a small sigh, silently berating herself for her lack of sleep, but resumed her mission shortly after. Unfortunately, the fuzziness of her mind still lingered, and her lack of focus caused her to be negligent with where she was stepping, a combination which never ends well. When she reached the stairs, the tip of her shoe caught on the bottom stair, and she barely had time to react to this blunder before she fell forward, pain instantly flaring in her arms and legs while the papers which had previously been in her hands were now haphazardly scattered in all directions. After letting out a yelp of pain, Makoto rolled herself over and held her right leg, where the pain was most present, and sat still for a few moments, letting the roars of pain slowly subside. She hadn't even realized that her eyes had been tightly shut the whole time, and when she opened them, a small wave of sadness shot through her heart. Although this was one of the busiest times of the day, with students moving back and forth through the halls… not a single person had come check on her or help her. Instead, she saw students passing by, either sneering or laughing, and speaking in hushed tones.

"Serves Miss Perfect right."

"Hah, did you see that, she totally wiped out!"

Her blunder had left her feeling extremely vulnerable, and her typical mental fortitude was nowhere to be found, letting these jeers affect her with full force. She knew these sorts of comments were thrown around outside of her presence, but to hear them firsthand made them sting painfully. All she was trying to do was live her life peacefully, keep her grades up, and help make the school as good as it could be – was that so wrong?

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice broke Makoto out of her mental cacophony.

"Are you alright?"

Turning her head, the Student Council President saw a boy with black hair that could only be described as fluffy, and a set of black rimmed glasses adorning his face, a face that looked genuinely concerned, and was looking… right at her.

"Huh…? Oh…"

The boy's comment cleared Makoto's mental fog enough for her to realize she should probably get up and recompose herself, which she promptly did, before looking back at the stranger.

"Yes, I'm… fine, thank you. … I don't recognize you, who are you?"

Although she couldn't recognize the name and face of every student in Shujin offhand, she felt as if she would at least recognize someone like this.

The boy offered a small smile, "I'm Akira Kurusu, I transferred in recently."

_Could this be…?_

Makoto's temporary thought was halted by Akira moving, and lifting up one of the papers which was scattered around.

"Are these important?" He asked, looking around to see the sheer volume of spillage.

The embarrassment and doubt which had attacked Makoto's mind had made her completely forget the absolute mess she'd made, and her eyes opened wide in both shock and panic.

"They- Yes, they are!"

She then began to frantically pick up all of the ones nearby and stack them in her arms. Without prompting, Akira began to do the same, picking up the ones which had fallen out of the stairwell. It didn't take but a few minutes for the mess of papers to be fully cleaned up, and Akira gently handed his pile of papers to Makoto, who was making double and triple sure she had a good grip on the stacks this time.

"Thank you so much for this, you truly didn't need to help me get all of them…"

The boy smiled again and shook his head, adjusting his bag back onto his shoulder.

"It's fine, it looked like you could use the help."

"Regardless…"

Makoto did her best to bow slightly with the paper stacks in her arms, "Thank you very much Kurusu-san, your help was greatly appreciated."

A smile had found its way onto Makoto's lips from this small exchange, and after her bow, she carefully made her way up the stairs and delivered the papers to their intended destination. After setting the papers down, Akira's words echoed in Makoto's head, "… Looked like you could use the help." Makoto's sister, Sae Niijima, had always insisted that a Niijima had to work for herself, to push forward on her strength alone to secure a legacy in a cruel world, and for the most part, Makoto had no issue with that, she'd obviously done well enough for herself so far to be put in such a prestigious position as Student Council President. To call Makoto a loner would be an overstatement but there were few people who she would consider close friends, and only marginally more people she could consider regular friends. As such, it was somewhat refreshing to meet someone who had no preconceived bias against her, and simply saw her as another student. As she thought this, Makoto realized that she neglected to introduce herself to Akira, a lack of proper etiquette on her part, but perhaps it was better that way, at least Makoto didn't have to see his face when he realized that he helped the Student Council President after something as silly as tripping on the stairs… A knock on the Student Council room door roused Makoto from her thoughts, and she quickly put on a smile and hurried over to assist whoever it may be, just as she always did.

The rest of the day passed without incident, and Sae was too busy with work to come home that evening, so the night passed in a similar fashion. However, upon arriving at school the next morning, Makoto was flagged down by Ms. Kawakami who looked tired, as usual, but also a bit… fidgety.

"Hey, Niijima-san…"

Makoto straightened her back a bit and put on a courteous smile, "Yes, Kawakami-Sensei?"

Ms. Kawakami sighed deeply, as if she was forcing herself to do this, "You met the new transfer student yesterday, didn't you?"

"Kurusu-san? Yes, I did, he helped me… pick up something I dropped."

The teacher mumbled something under her breath at this response before replying, "I was supposed to have told you this before but… Principal Kobayakawa advises that you not associate with him too much."

Genuine confusion spread across Makoto's face, "Kawakami-Sensei, I'm not sure I follow what you mean. When I met him, he seemed perfectly amicable, and helped me without any prompting…"

Ms. Kawakami groaned again, seemingly more and more uncomfortable as the conversation went on, "Look… I'm sure you heard we were having a delinquent student transfer into our school this year, and it's _him_. You can do whatever you want, but I've been told to _heavily advise_ you not spend too much time around him, or else he might be…" The teacher sighed, before muttering out, "a bad influence," as though it were part of a script. "Understand?"

Makoto's confusion only grew as Ms. Kawakami continued her statement, but in the end, she nodded slightly, "Yes, I understand. I will… take that into consideration… thank you for passing that along."

With that responsibility completed, Ms. Kawakami yawned as she turned around.

"Sorry to drop that on you this early, have a good day. Too early if you ask me..."

After the teacher left, Makoto stood still for a few moments, going over what she'd just learned. Upon seeing Akira for the first time, Makoto _had_ wondered if he wasn't perhaps the delinquent transfer student that had been mentioned, but after interacting with him, it didn't make any sense! This transfer student was supposed to be violent, a troublemaker, a menace to society! … And Akira was none of those. It was only a brief interaction, but it all seemed genuine… Due to her police heritage, Makoto had heard more than her fair share of stories about criminals who seemed nice on the outside, but were twisted on the inside, so, this meant there was only one thing left to do: investigate!

Of course, Makoto's heritage made her an expert at blending in and hiding in plain sight, and she was sure that her latest method of tailing was the most ingenious yet: using a manga she happened to own and holding it close to her face, fulfilling the dual purpose of obscuring her face, and letting her see over the top! With this brilliant tactic in mind, during free periods at school, Makoto began to tail this new transfer student and see just what his true character was. The first thing that she noticed in her investigation was that the general perception of Akira was exactly like what Ms. Kawakami had said, with most students seeming to give him space and not talk to him, and instead whispering hushed rumors just out of earshot. Because of this, it appeared as if most of Akira's time at school was spent alone, not really interacting with many others. There were a few students with whom he seemed to have good relations with, notably Ryuji Sakamoto and Akira's classmate Ann Takamaki, but other than that, it appeared that everyone was treating him as an outcast. The next thing she noticed was that Akira seemed to be exhibiting _none_ of the personality traits that everyone seemed to be attributing to him – in fact, his overall tendencies seemed to be more akin to what Makoto had noticed during their first meeting. It appeared that any time someone needed help, and he was nearby, he would quietly help out and not ask anything in return. Those who he helped seemed to have an elevated opinion of him, but even those small acts of kindness weren't enough to remotely change the opinion the student body as a whole held about him.

Makoto carried out this investigation for a whole week, or at least that's what she had planned to. On Saturday, during what would normally be Makoto's first block of 'investigating', she was seemingly unable to find Akira anywhere. She checked his classroom, checked the library, as well as other places she had seen him visit, but he didn't seem to be present in any of them. Just as she was beginning to worry that perhaps something had happened, that perhaps Akira was absent that day…

_Tap tap_

A shiver shot up Makoto's spine as she let out a tiny gasp and quickly turned around in reaction to a finger gently prodding her shoulder. The owner of the finger stepped back and looked a bit concerned that they'd done something wrong, and Makoto let out a quiet gasp once she realized who it was.

"K-Kurusu-san?!"

The boy nodded a bit, still seemingly worried, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Makoto quickly realized that her reaction had been quite over the top for something so minor, and did her best to recompose herself and stand up straight, clearing her throat.

"I-It's been a while, h-how may I help you Kurusu-san?"

"Um, this may be strange to ask, but have you been following me..?"

Makoto winced, but was going to do her best to see if she could salvage this situation in a way which _wouldn't_ make it seem like she was stalking a boy she barely met.

"I… What makes you think something like that…?"

"I've seen you walking around with that book… alot, and people are starting to say that you're keeping a close eye on me or something. So… is it true? I've heard the things that people have been saying about me, so I can't say I'm surprised if you've been asked to keep an eye on me…"

Akira's face looked slightly pained as he said this, and Makoto winced again - as much as it seemed like Akira was just trying to get by, it's almost impossible to be able to simply accept being judged heavily by one's peers. The brunette girl lowered her head, and put her disguise book in her bag, before clasping her hands together in front of her and looking Akira in the eyes.

"The answer to your question is yes… and no. While it is true that Ms. Kawakami did… inform me of your status after our meeting earlier this week, my following of you was purely of my own volition."

This answer only served to make Akira look more confused, so Makoto had to continue her explanation, but began stumbling over her words, "Y-You see, I simply didn't b-believe it! Everything that was being said sounded very out of character, from the brief time we met! You didn't seem like a criminal!"

Unconsciously, Makoto's voice had gotten progressively louder as she spoke, and by the time she had loudly proclaimed that last sentence, there were a number of people looking at the pair and beginning to question what was going on. As soon as she processed the crowd that had formed around them, she realized that this could easily damage Akira's reputation more than it already was, so she did the first thing that came to her mind - grabbing Akira's wrist and dragging him up 2 flights of stairs and out the door onto the roof of Shujin Academy. Upon arriving, she let out a heavy sigh of relief, and was thankful that the weather was clear today, and there was even a nice breeze flowing th-

"... Niijima-Senpai?"

Makoto's recently scattered mind once again made her forget about the important things in the heat of the moment, which in this case was that her hand was still tightly clasped around Akira's wrist, and the fact that she had pulled him away from that scene with no notice. She immediately let go of his wrist and positioned herself in a bow in front of him.

"My apologies for that! I don't know what came over me!"

For a moment, there was silence… before a small laugh broke the silence. Laughter was definitely low on the list of things Makoto expected to hear at that time, and slowly raised her head to see that Akira was the source of this sudden sound and had a smile on his face as well.

"What's.. So funny?" Makoto questioningly asked as she straightened herself up - she wasn't used to being laughed at in a situation like this.

Akira shook his head a moment before replying, "It's nothing, I just didn't expect you to do something like that Niijima-Senpai. From what I'd heard, you were supposed to be uptight and proper all the time, but both times we've met, you've been anything but that."

A red blush grew on Makoto's face as her face turned into a slight pout.

"I _am_ still your senior, I hope you know that… However…"

As she began to think about what Akira said, Makoto couldn't help laughing a bit as well!

"I do suppose we've only met under abnormal circumstances, so your sentiment is not entirely wrong. In fact, that's what I was going to say before… I interrupted our conversation."

Makoto confidently looked into Akira's dark eyes and nodded at him, "After observing your actions recently, I have come to the conclusion that you are not the person your rumors talk about. I've seen nothing but kindness and grace in dealing with the ire of your classmates, and from what it seems people simply take those rumors as fact before even interacting with you."

Akira seemed a bit awestruck at such an honest and forward statement from his senior, and even he found himself going a bit red at such a confident speech.

"Um, thank you senpai. I think that's the first time someone's given me a pep-talk like that, at least the first time it came from someone around my age."

He idly scratched the back of his head, thinking of the best way to continue this interaction, but ended up not needing to, as Makoto began to speak again.

"You're new around here, correct Kurusu-san?"

Akira nodded, but raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"I am, why do you ask?"

"If I might… may I show you around the area, at a time when you are free?"

That was _definitely_ not what Akira was expecting to hear, but he nodded once again, "I'm free tomorrow, if that works for you?"

Makoto contently smiled, and pulled out her phone.

"Consider it… repayment for your random act of kindness earlier this week. Shall we exchange contact information?"

Akira pulled his phone out of his bag, and after a brief exchange of making sure their numbers were right, the two put away their phones, and were left in a somewhat awkward silence. The one to break the silence would be Akira, who seemed to have something on his mind.

"Niijima-senpai, I-"

Unfortunately, his thought was cut off by the sound of a bell ringing, signaling the start of classes A small bout of panic passed over Makoto's face at the sound she knew all too well.

"Oh no… My sincerest apologies, I didn't mean to keep you for so long!"

She quickly picked up her bag and began heading to the door, "I apologize again, please do get to your class as soon as possible! If your teacher has complaints, tell them… the student council had business with you, that should exonerate you from punishment!"

She briefly bowed to Akira once more before heading through the door, and scurrying to her classroom. For once, Akira's reputation came in handy, and he was not chastised too thoroughly for coming into class a few minutes late. Due to Makoto being such an upstanding student, she also escaped any notable punishment, much to her relief. Other than the brief moments of panic in which she rapidly hauled Akira to the rooftop and when she rapidly hauled herself down to class, Makoto couldn't help looking back on that morning with a smile on her face. Many people in the school had no problem with her, but there were certainly a few who were jealous of her position, or thought that she was 'too' perfect, and scorned her for such a reason. Conversely, the majority of the school population thought of Akira as a criminal, and it was only a small handful of people who actually saw through the rumors to see the real person underneath them. While Makoto always did her best to help out Shujin students who were in need, it was rare to see someone who came into the school with such unfortunate circumstances thrust upon them, and this time, Makoto was determined to help make a difference. The road to making any real difference would certainly be a long one, and honestly, Makoto didn't know how she would really go about doing it at all. For the time being though, Makoto collected her thoughts, and condensed them down into something simple: One step at a time. First, she would show him around the area tomorrow, and after that, she was uncertain, but for some reason… this excited her. It was rare that she would get excited about the unknown, but something about this transfer student struck a chord in her, and she was now determined to see it through as best as she could and then maybe, just maybe, she could have a genuine impact on the person who offered her a helping hand in her time of need.


End file.
